


Broken Promise

by OnceUponAPemberlyDream



Series: Sharon Carter Matters [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Friendship, sharon finds out trip died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4907662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceUponAPemberlyDream/pseuds/OnceUponAPemberlyDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sharon Carter has lost a lot in her life. She never wanted to lose her best friend too.</p><p>Or Sharon finds out Trip died and reflects on their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Blame Megan and Jaz and Liv. They wanted me to write and here is where we ended up....

_It wasn’t supposed to be like this…_ The thoughts echoed through Sharon’s head. _He promised…. We promised…_ The easy smile on his lips bright among the gravel of their first field fight filled her mind, the cheesy joke floating through the gunfire surrounding them echoed in her head. Her best friend, the one who was there from the first reunion of the Howling Commandos she ever attended. Gone. No trace, disappeared from her life. Sharon listened to his mom’s voice waver, sobs swallowing the words she repeated, “He went out a hero… he went out a true hero.” _Antoine…_

* * *

 Clinging to Aunt Peggy’s hand, Sharon shook her blonde curls in front of her face, shielding her face from the group of men standing in front of them, towering over her at five years old. Sharon tightened her hold on Peggy as she recognized the men, older and more lined than the faded faces in pictures held in the photo album on the lowest shelf in her aunt’s library. Each man surveyed the little girl, looking for something, traces of her aunt she supposed, wondering why she was here, a new addition to the chaos around them, the annual reunion as familiar to them as it was foreign to her. Slowly an older gentleman crouched down, a genuine smile across his lips, the corner of his lips crinkled. His brown eyes sparkled as he looked from Peggy to her.

 “Who do we have her Peggy? Your little sister I assume,” the man winked as Peggy’s eyes rolled in amusement. “I mean look at her, why she carries herself the same way as you. Shoulders squared against the unknown.”

 “As flattered as I am by your implication that age hasn’t caught up to me, Gabe,” Peggy’s voice drifted down to Sharon above her, her accent belaying the laugh she held back. “This little lady is Sharon, my niece. She is staying with me for the summer while my brother and his wife travel for work.”

 “Well, knock me over with a feather,” Gabe’s eyes shone as he looked up at Peggy. Taking Sharon’s hand gently from Peggy’s, Gabe lifted it to his lips, kissing the back of it. “Nice to meet you, Sharon. I am Mr. Jones but I insist you call me Uncle Gabe. After all, we are all one big family here. How old are you, Sharon?”

 “I’m four…” Sharon hesitated, looking down at the wrinkles on the back of his hand, “Uncle Gabe.”

 “Such a great age,” his smiled widened as the laughter in his voice increased. “I happen to have a grandson around here who is just your age! Would you like to meet him?”

 Sharon looked up at her aunt, gauging the older woman’s reaction. Her aunt’s usual red lips quirked up softly, easing the nerves fluttering around Sharon’s stomach. Turning back to the older man in front of her, Sharon’s mouth widened as she started to shake her head yes enthusiastically. Nodding his head in response, Gabe stood up, turning his head to the left and shouting to the little boy climbing over the swing set a few yards away. The little boy scrambled, falling off the swing into the bark underneath. As the little boy jumped up, sending pieces of wood flying, Sharon noticed the boy’s smile widened as he saw her, white teeth glistening in the sun. He ran quickly to the group, going too fast in his excitement, slapping into his grandfather’s legs when he was unable to slow down enough to come to a complete stop. Rubbing his head, the little boy groaned as his grandfather laughed.

“Antoine,” Gabe smirked as he rubbed his grandson’s head. “You remember Aunt Peggy?” The little boy nodded vigorously, throwing his hand in the air to wave a greeting at the other woman.

“This is Sharon, Peggy’s niece. She’s four just like you!”

“Hi!” The boy’s voice squeaked as he stumbled forward to stand between Sharon and Gabe. Steadying himself, he coughed in order to lower his voice, attempting to imitate his grandfather’s smooth voice. “It is a pleasure to meet you, little lady.” Peggy’s laughter interrupted the boy’s introduction, his eyes sparkling with pride that he had caused the older woman to laugh. Sharon’s mouth lifted slightly, a smile starting to curve, understanding how it felt to get the intimidating woman next to her to laugh. The boy turned back to Sharon, equal heights allowing their eyes to meet easily. “My name is Antoine Triplett but only my mom and grandpa call me Antoine. You can call me Trip! Want to come play with me on the swings?” Trip bounced in excitement as he threw a quick glance over his shoulders. “They can go SUPER high and they don’t even squeak!”

Sharon’s eyes widened as she looked at the swings, desire to test them out sending the butterflies in her stomach flying again. She quickly looked back at the boy, nodding her head wildly up and down, her curls fluttering in the wind. Trip laughed, causing Sharon to giggle at his excitement.

“Well Shar,” Trip paused, waiting for Sharon’s reaction to the nickname. He continued when Sharon tilted her head, her smile firmly in place. “Shar, wanna race? I bet I could beat you to the swing set. Loser has to push the winner!”

 “You’re on!” Sharon said as she lifted up the bottom of her dress, gathering the extra fabrics in her hands as she planted her shows firmly on the ground. “On the count of three…” Trip turned toward the swings with a smile on his face. “One…. Two…. Thre-“ Sharon took off running, laughing as Trip’s shocked gasp came from behind her. She laughed, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

* * *

_He’s gone..._ Sharon’s eyes started to water as she curled her legs into her chest, sitting on her bed. Her phone slipping from her hand, the dial tone buzzing through the silence.  The first time they had met Trip had given her a nickname, a friendship that she held onto through everything. After she had won that race, they had pushed each other to be better, to learn and grow. They wrote letters to each other, growing loser even though the distance was longer than the two kids realized. Burying her head in her legs, she tried to ignore the photo sitting on her dresser. The image of his trademark grin plastered on his young face, hands pushing her as the tiny version of her threw her head back in laughter mocked her now. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, attempting to keep her breath steady.  _There’s nothing left of him…._

* * *

They were fifteen when she lost her parents and felt like the world was closing in on her for the first time.  She laid on his bed, head in his lap as he smiled and crinkled his eyes as he talked about how excited he was that she had come to visit for the summer, left behind again when Harrison and Amanda Carter did their usual summer business trips. Sharon hadn’t seen him for months when his mom had called, offering Sharon a place to stay, knowing that as much as Sharon loved traveling with her parents, going place to place wore her down, left her feeling lonely when her parents would disappear for hours on end alone in empty hotel rooms. The phone rang, the sounds interrupting their mixed laughter as they made plans. A few moments later, his mom appeared in his doorway, her usually bright welcoming face solid, the laugh lines Sharon and Trip had watched formed over the years as she laughed at their antics, countless sessions of playing Howling Commandos smoothed out of her face as Sharon’s name fell from her lips, low and gravelly. Sharon sat up, Trip’s hand falling from her head in order to grab hers laying flat against his bed.  

The tears started falling as soon as the words drifted across the small space. _Parents… accident… too late… gone_. The sobs racked her body as Mrs. Triplett raced to place herself next to Sharon, Trip’s arms coming around her as fast pulling her to his chest. She cried forever, her face pressed in the crook of his neck nestled between her best friend and the closest thing she had to a mom.

“It’s okay,” he muttered softly, lifting a hand to her hair to pat her softly on the head. “You’ll be okay baby girl.”

“I… have to call Aunt Peggy,” Sharon gasped out between sobs. “She… I….”

 “I’ll take care of that, sweetie,” Mrs. Triplett said, her usual light voice thick with grief. “We’re here for you… We won’t leave you alone. I’ll go call her now.” She stood up, leaving Sharon drained in Trip’s arms, his hand dropping down to her back and tightening his grasp on her.

 They stayed there for hours, till the tears ran dry from her eyes and her breathing slowed, still uneven but calmer. The sounds of Mrs. Triplett making phone call after phone call as she tracked down Peggy drifted down the hall from the kitchen of the small apartment. His hand moved up and down her back, comforting her with his solid weight and soft whispered words, an anchor.

 “What am I going to do Trip?” Sharon muttered as she lifted her head, her light brown eyes eyes meeting his dark brown eyes. “How am I supposed to go back now?”

 “You’ll go back, you’ll go on, baby girl,” a hint of his usual smile lifted his lips, still sad, as Trip leaned down to kiss her forehead. “You’re a fighter.”

* * *

_A fighter…_ Sharon tightened her arms around her knees, pressing her face harder against the worn out cotton of her SHIELD academy sweatpants. Trip was the last person to ever see her cry, to comfort her when she broke. He had been there every time she started to break, just a phone call away every time she needed him. He listened to her wobbly voice as she fought against the misty eyes when Peggy forgot her name,took her for her mother. He kept her from forgetting that they were meant for more than just sitting on the sidelines, that they were in the fight together and each battle meant protecting the world, their family. _He fought until the very end…._

* * *

 

“The flowers look nice,” Trip reassured Sharon as she rearranged the bouquet of tea roses and forget-me-nots in front of the grey marble headstone, the names Harrison and Amanda etched in white. The date marked clearly underneath the names, reminding the two sixteen year olds why they were here. It had been a year since the accident and Trip had shown up at her door the night before with a vase filled with her parents’ favorite flowers. Aunt Peggy had been called away this morning for an emergency at the office and insisted that the teens had come to the cemetery without her. “They would love them. I remember Uncle Harrison and Aunt Amanda always arguing over which of their favorite flowers stood out best in the yard.”

“Dad insisted the blue of the forget-me-nots went better with the shutters,” Sharon laughed as she stood up. “I overheard Aunt Peggy once say to Uncle Gabe that she thought they were just making up for when they didn’t argue over what color to paint my nursery.” Standing in front of their graves, Sharon wrapped her arms around Trip’s chest and lifted her eyes up to him. “You know, my parents loved you. They’d be glad you’re here.” She tilted her head to the side when he met her gaze, his trademark grin lighting up his eyes. “I’m pretty sure my mom was aiming for us to get married one day.”

“We still have time,” Trip winked at her. “This ladies man needs some time to spread his wings, to flirt with the _ladies_ before he settles down.” Sharon rolled her eyes, a small smile making its way across her lips. “Seriously though, I’m here for you no matter what. I mean who else could bring the funk wherever he goes? Pst you need me in your life. Someone has to get you to have fun every once in awhile that doesn’t involve hitting your hands on a stuffed bag till they bleed or bullet loading races with your aunt.”

 “Hey!” Sharon teased him, sticking out his tongue.“Don’t make fun of how I relieve stress just because you’re jealous that I keep beating you! I can’t help that I am better at it than you are! I just happened to learn from the best!” Trip shook his head, rolling his eyes at her. “Thanks though. You do make me easier to deal with I’m sure. I… I wouldn’t have been able to come here alone… not today at least. I’m not sure I would have been able to pack away their things last year if I didn’t have you and Aunt Peggy and your family. Without you all, I… I probably would be alone. I sure as hell wouldn’t have stopped myself from bottling up my emotions and never taking them off the shelf again. I owe you guys everything… but you, you especially…”

  
“You don’t owe me anything,” Trip interrupted her, his smile gone off his face, serious and firm. “You’ve helped me through hard times to… my granddad’s death just the beginning and if we keep on the path we’re on, the path our families paved for us, I have a feeling we’ll have to stand firm together, help each other through situations whether we are next to each other or worlds apart. I’m going to be here for you. I promise and I know you’ll return the favor. After all, what are best friends for,” Trip winked at her as his trademark grin found its way back to his face. “Though I would take a kiss just to seal the promise.” Sharon laughed at his wink, rolling her eyes even as she lifted herself onto her toes. Pressing her lips softly against his, Sharon tightened her arms around him. Tilting her head, she pressed her lips against his a bit harder, holding back a little laugh at Trip’s soft gasp of surprise.

“There,” Sharon sighed as she pulled back to look into Trip’s slightly widened eyes, clearly shocked a bit by Sharon’s kiss. “What? Did you really think I wouldn’t seal the promise properly or did you think I’d chicken out? Come on you know me better than that.” Sharon giggled as Trip’s mouth hung open, trying to calculate a comeback.

* * *

_No more... there is no more…._ Sharon’s fingernails dug into her arms, deep enough to leave marks. The nail of her left ring finger pressed so tightly against her skin that it drew blood, a red drop rolling down her arm to land against the black lettering of her white duvet cover, smearing the passage from her favorite book. A headache started behind her closed eyes, pressure building against her temples as she fought off the water in her eyes. She struggled against the urge to reach for her phone and dial his number, knowing that hearing his voice would break her control completely when his voicemail played. She couldn’t call Aunt Peggy; it had been a bad day for her, Peggy stared blankly at her that morning as she asked who Sharon was, wondering where she was and how she had got there. _I couldn’t have saved him… couldn’t have stopped this…._  

* * *

 

 _Legacies._ The word hung heavy over their heads from the moment they joined SHIELD, her last name raising the eyebrows of various teachers at the agency as he teased her that he would end up better at undercover work than her if her last name was as well known outside the academy as history lecturers inside the library. They graduated together and their first mission on the field kept them together, backs pressed together as they fought off the enemy in the rubble of a fallen building. They obtained the title specialists as they worked mission after mission, him earning a spot on a team lead by a high ranking agent while she established herself as an agent, joining the ranks of SHIELD special service. Aunt Peggy’s dementia got worse and she took the assignment from Fury in D.C. They keep in touch between the missions. He showed up at her apartment in between her shift at the Triskelion and the time her mark usually returned from his weekly visit to Aunt Peggy when she orchestrated a meeting in a hallway when his partner died. She sent him messages every time she visited Aunt Peggy only to leave with a heavy chest, the weight of feeling like a ghost to the last remaining family she had left crushing her. When SHIELD fell and Sharon stood in the middle of the rubble of what her aunt built and all she dedicated herself to in the name of justice, her first thought was of her best friend, in the field. She shoots him a text, desperate to contact him.

_SHIELD’s gone. I still promise. Do you?_

She didn’t think he’ll hear back from him, knew that if he was out there in Hydra territory that he may not make it out; but, still she hoped. He always encouraged her to keep her hope and no amount of worry and fear for him could have stopped her from not hoping for him. She refused to dishonor their promise, refused to give up. When she gets back to her apartment from the aftermath of battle stopping only to check on Aunt Peggy, the apartment was ransacked, her possessions thrown around and her pictures scattered on the floor. She’s not naive enough to think she isn’t a target now, her identity known to the world, leaked in the information idea. There was nowhere to go, her whole world upside down so she stayed. This place was as close to home as she had since she came back to DC years ago. She loved this apartment, made it more than just a place to watch her mark. There was plenty to worry about, arrangements to be made yet she found herself cleaning up the apartment, waiting for the text back, a prayer for Trip on the forefront of her mind.

Weeks passed and before she even acknowledged that she needed time to really process what she lost, Maria Hill maneuvered Sharon into the CIA as much a way for the CIA to get information on SHIELD as much as it was a way for Maria to keep tabs on the CIA and their movements against former SHIELD agents. Sharon went through all the tests, impressing the older CIA agents not based on her last name, but based on her skills and her ethic. In spite of her age and her former affiliation, she ended up in a place where she wasn’t confined to desk work like many of the former SHIELD agents who scattered into the wind only to end up in various agencies. She spent most of her time behind her desk, focusing on paperwork with the promise of occasional field work until her supervisors trust her enough to fully place her in the field.

She stumbled into her apartment one night after a long day of paperwork as her phone went off. She looked down, assuming it was the nursing home calling to discuss Aunt Peggy’s progress. She almost overlooked it, busy trying to balance her mail and her bag in one hand as she struggled to get the door open. The name flashing across her screen stopped her though. His name. Trip. Once she was in the door, Sharon unceremoniously deposited her bag and her mail on the table in her hallway and collapsed against the door in relief as she read the words of his text. 

_Promise still intact. Still bringing the funk. Will call soon. Promise._

Eyes closed and a smile on her face, Sharon Carter felt as if for the first time since SHIELD fell that she could breath a bit easier. Trip was safe and she was secure.

* * *

_Alone… He wasn’t alone…._ Sharon sat, shaking on her bed as the silent sobs racked her body. His mother had said he had died trying to save his friend, trying to save the world. A small spark of pride fought against the solid weight in her chest. They had grown up together, in the shadows of legends whose faces lined the hallways of SHIELD and museums. He had told her one night before they graduated from the academy as they sat in her room, watching a movie that if he died a hero, if he died saving just one person, then his death would have been worth it. Sharon remembered telling him that he was a hero already, he saved her with his friendship and she knew that he was going to change someone else’s life that way he had changed hers. As she sank into her pillows, she looked towards her nightstand at a picture of Trip standing in front of the SHIELD academy, dressed in his standard issue suit with his trademark grin across his face as Sharon clung to his back, arms wrapped around his throat, her legs through the space between his arms and his chest with a matching smile across her lips. It had been the final day at the academy before they graduated and they had sworn then yet again that they promised to be there for each other no matter what when Trip’s friend insisted on taking a photo of them to capture the moment. She reached over to grab the photo as she felt the tears start to fall. _Trip… My best friend…. I didn’t even get to say goodbye…._

 


End file.
